28mm ancients in London

[Doom Beard 78]

I was curious to see if anyone played 28mm ancients in London. ideally Warhammer Ancients but failing that anything non DBX or DBX derivative.

[Getback]

Where are you in London. We play a bit of To The Strongest and ADLG (and others - looking to try MEG) 15 and 28's in South West London. I know of a local group that play Hail Caesar in 28mm

[Doom Beard 78]

In in North East, outside Walthamstow . I have To the Strongest  but not played it. I have no interest in ADLG -its to DBX ish for me.

[Doom Beard 78]

9 months on-  know there is a lockdown but is there anyone out there

[madaxeman]

9 months on-  know there is a lockdown but is there anyone out there

Simon Miller - the TTS! author - I believe lives in Muswell Hill. It might be worth reaching out to him directly?

I'm a Central London Wargames Club member, but we're pretty much an AD:LG shop so I'm afraid I can't really help. 

[Mammoth miniatures]

if you're looking for london players you're best to get in touch with either HATE (hackney area tabletop enthusiasts) or South london warlords. those the two biggest groups in london.

[Doom Beard 78]

Madaxeman

I used to game with Simon, however TTS is now a full time job.

 I had visited Central London a few times in the past and played Clash of Empires , Hail Caesar and WAB- nearly always had someone make a snotty comment about the rules or the game I was playing and why would anyone choose to play it. Hardly, seemed a welcoming environment if you were not a fan of DBX games or DBX derivative titles.  In light of bad experiences I would not wish to visit that club again.

I visited HATE, but as far as I could tell its pretty much 40k and Age of Sigmar only.

Might contact South London in the new year see what's on offer. 

Is anyone actually playing in 25mm and if so, what rules are they playing. Just wondering if its time to accept that 25mm is a dead scale, other than for games like SPQR or SAGA , and cut my losses and focus on playing Warhammer Total War instead.

[madaxeman]

Hmmm - sorry if you had a negative experience, we're not usually like that!

CLWC, like many other London clubs does however have midweek (aka "a few hours after work, 7-11pm") club nights, and is also somewhere that players travel to mostly on public transport - I'd guess that any "London" club that shares those two characteristics is going to prove to be a difficult place to find opponents for 'big footprint' 25mm ancients games, and especially for rulesets which aren't quite as geared up for 'pickup' games as those in the DBx family.

Maybe you would have more luck with clubs in the home counties, where players would normally drive there - and especially those with weekend meetings with a fuller day for each club meet?

[Doom Beard 78]

Thanks for the response Madaxeman- I think I'm suffering a bit of the lockdown malaise however, I seem to have been suffering a bit of " not sure what to play rules wise" compounded by lack of opponents.   I  suspect that the zeitgeist is has moved towards games like infamy infamy: smaller figure count and more skirmish focus.

I think I saw that North London Wargames Club in Cheshunt do play some Hail Caesar, which is not a ruleset which really hit the box for me, but its one I can at least play.  If and when lockdown is lifted I'll contact them.

[bigredbat]

LOL I know Doom Beard by the tag. :-)   I never play at home- no room, these days. I do play TtS! online, though, if you fancy a game.

I'll have a stab at a game in Central London after the current difficulties have passed; I will need to blood my Swiss!

[SJWi]

I’m based in deepest Hertfordshire so am not in London. In these strange times I would recommend Simon’s “To the Strongest” for ancients. As a grid-based game it works quite well on Zoom. My mates and I manage a weekly game and TTS is the one that works best. This Thursday sees the Thessalian taking on the Thracians.

[Doom Beard 78]

For computer based wargaming I prefer real time to turn based. 

[Kitsune]

Where are you in London. We play a bit of To The Strongest and ADLG (and others - looking to try MEG) 15 and 28's in South West London. I know of a local group that play Hail Caesar in 28mm

Oh? Whereabouts in SW London? I’m based there


Original poster - lots of the clubs I’ve played at have closed down over the years, unfortunately. I say find an opponent with a similar approach and then use the facilities of a club like that Covent Garden 40K one, for the tables and scenery, if you can’t host a game. We’re lucky enough to have a pub host our games in their spare room, but that requires us bringing everything and taking it again - which I don’t mind

[SteveBurt]

In answer to the question of whether anyone uses 28mm for mass battle games. Yes, I do. They've been used for DBA, DBM, Armati, DBMM, Field of Glory, Neil Thomas rules, Sword & Spear, Warmaster Ancients and most recently 'To the Strongest', which is just a terrific set of rules.

[Rusty72]

I live in Southfields near Wimbledon, not really played for ages even pre lockdown due to all my usual buddies and I having busy jobs and living opposite sides of London. Where do you normally meet for games?